NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The negative physical and mental
effects tied to bullying among children and teens may accumulate
throughout the years, according to a new study.

Researchers found that teens who had been bullied in the
past and those currently being bullied tended to have a lower
quality of life, compared to those who were bullied less or not
at all.

This finding and previous research on the effects of
bullying suggest more rigorous work should be done on finding
ways to intervene and stop bullying, said the study's lead
author.

"I think this is overwhelming support for early
interventions and immediate interventions and really advancing
the science about interventions," Laura Bogart, from Boston
Children's Hospital, told Reuters Health.

In the past, when researchers have surveyed students at one
point in time, children and teens who were being bullied tended
to score lower on measures of physical and mental health.

But few studies have examined whether the possible effects
of bullying accumulate over the years, the researchers write in
the journal Pediatrics.

They analyzed data from the Healthy Passages study, which
surveyed students in Alabama, California and Texas about how
much bullying they experienced and evaluated their physical and
mental health.

Overall, 4,297 students completed the surveys in fifth,
seventh and 10th grades.

The researchers found that about a third of the students had
been regularly bullied at some point during the course of the
study.

Generally, those who had been bullied in the past scored
better on measures of physical and mental health, compared to
those who were currently being bullied. Teens who were bullied
throughout their school career scored the worst.

For example, about seven percent of 10th grade students who
had never been bullied scored low on mental health measures.
That compared to 12 percent who had been bullied in the past, 31
percent who were currently being bullied and almost 45 percent
of those who underwent persistent bullying.

About eight percent of 10th grade students who were never
bullied had poor physical health, compared to 12 percent of
those who were bullied in the past, 26 percent who were
currently being bullied and 22 percent who were continuously
bullied.

Poor mental health included traits such as being sad, afraid
and angry, according to Bogart. Poor physical health included
limitations like not being able to walk far and not being able
to pick up heavy objects.

"I think one key thing to take from this is that any adult
that has any contact with children . . . (should) know what the
signs of bullying might be," Bogart said. "This study tells us
some of them, but not all of them."

"There are physical signs, but they're not always physical,"
she said.

For example, one non-physical sign that a young person is
being bullied is that the child doesn't want to go to school.

Bogart also said it's important for parents to know if their
child falls into one of the groups at high risk for bullying.
Those groups include children with physical disabilities, those
who are overweight and obese and those who are lesbian, gay,
bisexual or questioning.

"I think this says - especially for parents - to be really
attuned to what's going on in their kids' lives by paying
attention, knowing what's going on during the school day and
being aware so they'll notice changes like these," she said.